Catcher Jorge Alfaro has opted out of his minor league deal with the Brewers, per a team announcement relayed by Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The backstop is now a free agent and free to sign with any club.
Alfaro, 32, has appeared in eight big league seasons. He has a well-established profile as a guy who can hit home runs but with subpar walk and strikeout numbers and poor defense. In 82 Triple-A games this year, he continued to perform in that manner. His 3.4% walk rate and 36.5% strikeout rate with Nashville were bad numbers but he did put the ball over the fence 15 times. That led to a .244/.285/.430 line and 87 wRC+.
His path to big league playing with the Brewers wasn’t great. They have one of the best everyday guys in the league in William Contreras. For much of the year, they’ve had Eric Haase as the backup. Ahead of the deadline, they acquired Danny Jansen from the Rays, which bumped Haase off the roster and down to Triple-A. They also have one of the top catching prospects in the league in Jeferson Quero, who is on the 40-man and playing for Nashville.
That essentially put Alfaro fifth on the depth chart, so he’ll use the clause in his contract to look for a better situation. For his career, he has 48 home runs in 1,710 plate appearances, a 4.2% walk rate, 34% strikeout rate, .253/.302/.393 line and 86 wRC+.
Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images